2. 1974, Eisaku Sato
Former Japanese Prime Minister Eisaku Sato (1901-1975) shared the 1974 Nobel Peace Prize with Ireland's Sean MacBride. Sato was honored for his attempt to quell Japanese nationalism after World War II, and for signing the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty on behalf of Japan in 1970.

By praying to mass murderers and war-criminals responsible for the barbaric invasion of Asia and barbaric atrocities at the Yasukuni War Shrine, Shinzo Abe, the LDP and Japanese fascists made Japan into an outcast country and the enemy of the peoples who were once victims of Japanese aggression. Shinzo Abe madness will destroy Japan.

Sir. Japanese troops were stationing in Beijing in perfect accordance with international treaty (Beijing Treaty of 1901 after Boxer Rebellion).

US troops are stationed in Japan today according to a treaty as well. If the Japanese attacked them today, US military certainly would take an action, and it would be equivalent to what happened in 1937 near Marco Polo bridge.

Mao was personally responsible for 50 million death. We are looking at 5 million for Tojo for the entire Asia during WWII. Here's my question: The key to personal development is to aspire for greatness? Or to simply point out someone else is worse?

Isn't that the case in point here? Is the self-worth of Japan and the Japanese people measured in term of "our fearless leader killed less people than Mao"? Is that what Japan has become?

Over the last 500 years, Europeans have dominated the world. Japan has been the only non-European based country to rise and catch up. Quite frankly, ALL of the Asian countries are simply Japanese copy cats. Where did the Asian tigers learn their craft? What do you think the Chaebols are modeled after? Even the high speed rail craze in China right now. As the Grandfather economy of the East, one would have hoped Japan would also lead the way in how it deals with history and the darker side of human behavior. The hope is with economic development, humanistic development also take place. That with the humanistic development, the government takes the appropriate steps to deal with the devil within.

This has not happened. Instead, Nagasaki's Peace Museum is a total joke. Whitewashing the entirety of WWII. And then we have these Yasukuni visits. China is following the same economic playbook developed by good old Japan (with some fine-tuning by the 4 tigers). The coastal provinces first and gradually moving inland. The economic development is coming along. Pretty soon, the humanistic development should also start to take place. One should hope that has that humanistic development take place, China would be able to deal with the inner demon that was Mao.

And it would have been nice if Japan led the way and showed how it is done. Instead, it is giving the wrong example.

There's no question China will become the world's number 1 economy as well as the world's number 1 power. If it follows Japan's example of whitewashing history and playing to nationalistic elements, Japan just paved its way to its own demise.

Interesting point about the numbers, and people seemingly focused on pointing out the faults of others.
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Well that 50 million dead tends to be on the high end. There are high end estimates for Tojo and company.
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For instance there are estimates of 15 million on up to 30 million Chinese dying due to the war on the Asian mainland.
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Then there are huge numbers of dead from famine in Tonkin, working to death Indonesians, and conflict in the Philippines.
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So the numbers game can get interesting, but in the end, probably doesn't resolve much.
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The question would really be what were the fatalities due to direct acts of violence and intentional neglect of fatal work conditions/environments and famines. That is, the famine was known to be going on, but got blown off (thinking Tonkin, 1945; south central China with the Ichi-Go offensive; Mao/CCP persisting with the Great Leap Backwards after 1959, possibly allowing certain areas to suffer on purpose).
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Otherwise, not sure China will be become the number one power. It still has some pretty large rural populaces of modest means, has yet to experience a bust (which every other country went through), and the country will age quite a bit after 2030. Not to mention nuclear weapons tend to negate rankings like number 1 or number 2 (who works for number 2), etc. - the 1990s with the US was an anomaly.
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What Nixon forecasted in 1971 is more likely, say with a duopoly of the US and China, and then a next tier.

You say Japan is the model for other East Asian economies and there may be some truth to this, but Japan modeled itself on the Western industrial revolution. In fact, the last governor of Hong Kong Chris Patten put it aptly when he said that the only recent economic miracle happened in Britain when it lead the world into the industrial revolution. It had no blue print to follow and was going blind.

On social development/human development Japan is far ahead of most of Asia, and much of the West. It is one of the safest countries in the world, with decent health and social services, and huge amounts of civic responsibility. Parts of Europe and the US look like a wasteland in comparison.

So it is leading the way. China is not. China has specifically attempted economic development without democratization or civic empowerment and without developing mechanisms for release of social pressures. So what does it do, the collective equivalent of a psychoanalytic projection. It hypes Japan up as an enemy and threat to world peace. Recently a Chinese representative in London has written a piece in the UK's free press (something China suppresses)claiming that Japan is a threat to world peace. For God's sake. Japan a threat to world peace? This level of strategic judgment is so ridiculously pathetic, it deserves to be put up there with claims that the US never landed on the moon. The threat to world peace is China. It is rising, it is full of resentment at having fallen behind in the world stakes over the past couple of centuries as the English speaking people's essentially made the modern world, and Japan (which it always saw as below its Middle Kingdom status)caught up first and showed that economic advancement was not only something whites could do, and it (China) now has a bone to pick with history. It has the most utterly ridiculous claims in terms of islands and so on. Its claims run practically up to the shores of smaller countries in the region. And it has set about flexing its muscles and causing trouble. It has put everyone on watch that it sees itself as the inevitable new dominant power in the Pacific, and that it is starting to push. Japan is pushing back. That is welcome in my opinion.

"There's no question China will become the world's number 1 economy as well as the world's number 1 power"

There is a big question about this. This is the current herd thinking I know, but there is a minority opinion that it will not, and often the minority turns out to be right. Everyone thought that Japan would take over the US in the 1980s and they were wrong. Japan ran into a brick wall. Current projections of China becoming the number one economy are based on straight line projections of current growth which almost never happens. China's growth so far has been based on returns on cheap labor, and there are signs, I agree, that it is developing better technology and it has accumulated capital to wield it. But it has a demographic crisis looming - just a generation behind Japan - and a myriad of other problems including huge peasant dissatisfaction, not to mention a credit bubble, which if it bursts, will shake the world. Fundamentally, it lacks credible institutions to manage the shocks and social pressures of uneven development and forfeited expectations - something which Japan, for example, and many other developed countries do have. The harder part for China is coming from about now. Let's see and be more reserved and measured in our assessments. It has become in vogue to toss this idea around that China's rise is inevitable. Personally, I think there is 50% chance that China will break up in the next 20 years, and the one-China dogma will be a thing of the past.

No problem. I don't think China will break up though, unless you mean Taiwan becoming formally a different country, or Tibet being allowed independence, or possibly withdrawal from parts of the Xinjiang in case Jihad and rebellion of sorts explodes there sometime in the future.

I think the core provinces of China will likely remain together, and possibly develop quite a bit as a middle income country, say hit $20,000 per capita GDP or so by 2030, before focusing on its aging population and their own rise of a healthcare state.

[Clint.Southwardin reply to betelnutJan 3rd, 23:43
You say Japan is the model for other East Asian economies and there may be some truth to this, but Japan modeled itself on the Western industrial revolution. ]

Japan not only "modeled itself on the Western industrial revolution". It also modeled itself on Western imperialism and that was when it went astray and developed militarism, which brought to East and SE Asia a catastrophe 100 times worse than Western imperialist did.

[In fact, the last governor of Hong Kong Chris Patten put it aptly when he said that the only recent economic miracle happened in Britain when it lead the world into the industrial revolution. It had no blue print to follow and was going blind.]

We all thank Britain "leading the world into the industrial revolution" but not its accompanying imperialism. Therefore, we learn its industrialization and fight its imperialism-- China is leading the world today in this particular endeavor.

[On social development/human development Japan is far ahead of most of Asia, and much of the West. It is one of the safest countries in the world, with decent health and social services, and huge amounts of civic responsibility. Parts of Europe and the US look like a wasteland in comparison. So it is leading the way. China is not. China has specifically attempted economic development without democratization or civic empowerment and without developing mechanisms for release of social pressures. So what does it do, the collective equivalent of a psychoanalytic projection. It hypes Japan up as an enemy and threat to world peace. Recently a Chinese representative in London has written a piece in the UK's free press (something China suppresses)claiming that Japan is a threat to world peace. ]

"Japan is far ahead of most of Asia" and "is leading the way" into stagnation too. The trick for the rest of Asia is to learn Japan's rise but not its stagnation. Singapore, which had copied Japan "economic development without real democratization" has now surpassed Japan in Per capita GDP and with social and infrastructural development that make many parts of Japan "look like a wasteland in comparison". For that reason, China has sent cadres to attending lessons in governance to Singaporean, instead of Japanese, institutions.

[For God's sake. Japan a threat to world peace? This level of strategic judgment is so ridiculously pathetic, it deserves to be put up there with claims that the US never landed on the moon. The threat to world peace is China. It is rising, it is full of resentment at having fallen behind in the world stakes over the past couple of centuries as the English speaking people's essentially made the modern world, and Japan (which it always saw as below its Middle Kingdom status)caught up first and showed that economic advancement was not only something whites could do, and it (China) now has a bone to pick with history.]

Thief calling "thief' again.

History has proved that it was the imperialist West and militarist Japan that had plunged the whole world in world wars. Having "always seen China as "below the status" of themselves, they are now "full of resentment at" the fact that now China "is rising" and have the capability to "pick bones" with them. "Picking bones" with whiteman's history is always rewarding and satisfying-- The non-white world has successfully done so in Korea, Algeria, Vietnam, Zimbabwe, Afghanistan and now in Syria. Giving into the bullying of the western imperialists and Japanese militarists can only invite more bullying.

The fact that "the English speaking people's essentially made the modern world" proves that the modern world can be RE-made by those who have been treated badly by them-- Especially since whiteman's rules have always been to punish NOT the guilty BUT the weak! Their motto is "Might is Right"! Now that China "is rising", it cannot shed it responsibility to remake the world in more acceptable standards.

[ It has the most utterly ridiculous claims in terms of islands and so on. Its claims run practically up to the shores of smaller countries in the region. And it has set about flexing its muscles and causing trouble. It has put everyone on watch that it sees itself as the inevitable new dominant power in the Pacific, and that it is starting to push. Japan is pushing back. That is welcome in my opinion.]

While such claims might be exaggerated, it simply cannot compared with Britain claim on an island that is more the 8000 miles from the shore of its home territory on the other side of the globe-- Not to mention the claims of "the English peaking people" on entire continents that clearly belong to non-English speaking peoples.

It is time for these non-English speaking peoples to "pick bones" with whiteman's ridiculous history.

["There's no question China will become the world's number 1 economy as well as the world's number 1 power"

There is a big question about this. This is the current herd thinking I know, but there is a minority opinion that it will not, and often the minority turns out to be right. Everyone thought that Japan would take over the US in the 1980s and they were wrong. Japan ran into a brick wall. ]

So, what is SOOO... great about Japan that you were bragging ONLY a couple of paragraphs above? Can't you try NOT contradict yourself in the same very post???

[Current projections of China becoming the number one economy are based on straight line projections of current growth which almost never happens. China's growth so far has been based on returns on cheap labor, and there are signs, I agree, that it is developing better technology and it has accumulated capital to wield it. But it has a demographic crisis looming - just a generation behind Japan - and a myriad of other problems including huge peasant dissatisfaction, not to mention a credit bubble, which if it bursts, will shake the world. Fundamentally, it lacks credible institutions to manage the shocks and social pressures of uneven development and forfeited expectations - something which Japan, for example, and many other developed countries do have. The harder part for China is coming from about now. Let's see and be more reserved and measured in our assessments. It has become in vogue to toss this idea around that China's rise is inevitable. Personally, I think there is 50% chance that China will break up in the next 20 years, and the one-China dogma will be a thing of the past.]

I don't know about THAT!!! China have broken up into pieces more than 20 times since recorded history. Every time, it reunited and, more often that not, became larger, stronger and more powerful. That trait have only been demonstrated by a few other classic civilizations like those of India and Persia etc, or Russia, if you have to include it.

It is true that the West, and the English speaking civilization in particular, shined brilliantly and rose very swiftly when they had history going FOR them. It remains to be seen if its could do the same, as the old classic civilizations have done, when history goes AGAINST them.

The experience of the Mongols, who had ALSO shone as brilliantly and rose as swiftly, as the "English speaking people" have done, does not give much to inspire from.

A supernova can out-shine the rest of the galaxy for a few years, but it will quickly dim and never to shine again. Our Sun, a normal star, might be dim by comparison but it will go on shine for billions of years.

Did Mao kill more or less than the Japanese did in China? How much of my intellectual resources do I allocate to these two episodes?

If Mao killed many, many, many more than the Japanese, and did so more recently, and to his very own people, then who is the greater monster? The monster within our own soul or the monster from without?

If Mao killed many, many, many more than Japan, then am I not an absolute intellectual baboon for neglecting Mao and being obsessed with Japan? Or maybe, have I still not emotionally matured in terms of historical perspective?

If Hideki Tojo killed many many many more than The two atomic bombs, then am I not an absolute intellectual baboon for defending Tojo-san and worship him as hero and being obsessed with the two A-bombs? Or maybe, have I still not emotionally matured in terms of historical perspective?

That is for the Imperial Army zombies that still walk the earth today. As for you maite, here it is:

If my beloved Imperial Army whom my grandfather fought against on the British side with their leader Tojo-san are nowadays being worshipped as heroes on their mission to rid Asia from evil American and Bristish colonization, then am I not an absolute intellectual amoeba (is that an oxymoron?) for neglecting Tojo-san worshipping by Imperial Army zombies and being obsessed with Mao? Especially in the comment section of an article that talks about Tojo-san worshipping?

Historical accuracy has nothing to do with the Communist Party's demonization of Japan. It serves to deflect the peasant's attention from their lack of access to clean food, air and water and a free vote.

The Japanese government are really such lousy liars that only the Japanese fascists or mentally insane will believe them. Japan hunts endangered whales and call it 'scientific research'. Japan denies her barbaric history and tries to beautify her aggression as liberating Asia from white colonialism. Again only the insane Japanese fascists believes in those lies. Japanese should grow up and accept the truth.

Several fundamental misconception about both ancient and modern Japan are prevalent among readers outside Japan.
1. Unlike Italy or Germany, Japan didn't have a Fascist party or a Facist Emperor; what it did have was a Junta that is much closer to late 1970s Argentina than to any Fascist country in the 1930s.
2. Actual enthusiasm of Emperor Hirohito to Japan's Pre-War and Early War conquests is one of the best kept secrets in the History of World War II (Even the imperial memoranda, the public release of whose decensored version was only announced two days ago, will only shed light to parts of this, not the whole picture)
3. Japanese Kings （倭王）began proclaiming imperial title （天皇） when Sui Dynasty conquered the Southern Dyansties with whom Japan had tributary relations with. Japan took no orders from the Continental Dynasties for over Thirteen Centuries, and now isn't exactly the best time to break with that heritage, since we now have tributary relation with somewhere across the Pacific Ocean that shall remain nameless :P

Japanese Kings （倭王）or the imperial title of sky king（天皇）, japns people are a branch off Chinese just the same as late as the first century. through out the long isolation years of east sea, japan managed to have kept some Chinese tradition and lost some. but it was not until shotoku taishi of yamato clan who united japan and taking Chinese tang dynasty as model to build and rule japan in the 7th century. that's why Japan had no written history until about 1,300 years ago.

Given the short written history of japan (unlike the usa that has clear legacy tracing back quite a few thousand years in Europe), japan has never been sure about itself as a nation. and that explains why japan submits to the stronger so easily yet usurp the weaker so ruthlessly.

it also explains why japan can be so subservient and submissive to the American occupation for some 70 years now but would think nothing bullying its neighbors who are considered weaker. the 'grin and bear' trick may still work for japan, but will another pearl harbor stunt be too far away?

This is probably something that many people will find hard to believe, but what happened in 1930s-40s Japan was a consequence of total LACK of leadership; a nation on autopilot or a spinal reflex.
In any other country, such situation would devolve into either a civil war or an anarchy (even in Japan it nearly did in February 1936, and maybe it would have been better for Asian history had it gone that way and Japan did wage a Spain-style civil war).
Somehow, there was a collective consensus to seek external solution for an internal problem, a course of action that was doomed to fail from the start, but no one had the nerve or guts to trigger a civil war. (These were the generation that were taught that divided Japan would be colonized, without realizing that losing a war would have the same consequence).
So, as Japan's crime was a collective crime of omission, there was no single group of "War Criminals" to put the blame on as there were in Italy or Germany. Since Japan by then had full male sufferage, that means the entire nations adult men were guilty.
Having said that, the three organizations most responsible for the entire affair were the Army, the Navy, and the Bureaucracy (not necessarily in that order). The first two were disbanded, the third turned into Quislings for the Americans in the context of the Cold War, and has been running Japan for THEM ever since (yes, they still do so today).

You seem to overlook the imperial household there. Also the business community.

You also seem to gloss over active efforts to pursue a militarist policy by different factions in Japan in the 1930s, which included assassinating liberal opponents.

And Tojo was not on autopilot in 1941. Now was the movement of troops into French Indochina a case of being on autopilot too? I doubt it - more a case of opportunism.

Interesting use of the word Quisling, considering that is a term originating from the name of a Norwegian traitor that supported Nazi occupation.

Are you trying to draw an equivalency of some sort? What did they betray? Would you rather have Japan destroyed in war? Or occupied by the Soviets too? Or left alone facing the Soviets, who treated the Japanese in Manchuria and North Korea so gently?

I think the bureaucracy and politicians made their choices. And the one they stuck with was Yoshida's line, of aligning with the west and focus on rebuilding, and later focus on trade.

Probably a smart move considering the weird and wild neighborhood that was north asia at the time with Stalin, Mao, North Korea, etc.

Also considering it would have likely been very hard, if not impossible, for Japan to rebuild and then develop without the aid of the US, in terms of access to technology and markets. Not to mention the huge amounts of aid after the war.

Yasukuni as seen from Japanese
I want to explane the Japanese Culture about A crime, punishment, and deathas the Japanese.
There is the word that " hate the crime, forgive the offender".
Japanese people make an effort to forgive an offender after his death or after he receive punishment.
It is the wisdom into which it developed in long history in order to cut off the chain of hate.
Not only Yasukuni but generally it is.
Japan's prime minister sent funeral condolences on the occasion of the death of Roosevelt who is an enemy's president.
Japanese people will not have blaming Americans about an atomic bomb in the past and the future.
One of the populer story Haira Family Story written at ac1200.He was the Enemy of Government and loser.
Popular TV drama made every year "47Samurai"story at ac1702 .All of they surrendered and accept a crime and are condemned to punishment.
Even with Osama bin Laden's dead body, probably it is treated carefully and desires a quiet mental rest.
If it sees from the world, it may be visible to the weak who do not retaliate, either.
It may be difficult to be understood.There may be some persons who get angry.
However, if it sees from Japanese people, the world is bound by the chain of hate and can be considered to be sad.
I feel sorry in my poor English.
Kenta Yasuda

Question2: If you were Tom, would you understand his concept of "forgiveness", and would you also forgive John who killed your father and mother?

As Japanese, you should never forget that your grandpa killed not only your father but also other families' relatives. Yes you CAN forgive your granpa about murder of your father since it's a domestic issue.

However you CANNOT forgive your grapa about murder of other families, because you are NOT their family member and it's no more domestic issue.

"Japanese people make an effort to forgive an offender after his death or after he receive punishment."

You sound sincere, and some other posters have said that elsewhere, so I would assume that's true. But here comes the problem, when Korea and China wanted to commemorate Ahn Jung-geun, the assassin of Hirobumi Ito who was executed by the Japanese government more than 100 years ago, your Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said he is a “criminal.”

Inevitably for us non-Japanese, that sounds like double standard, and you can't make people agreeable by having double standards.

Commentaries of an TE article about Japanese Prime Minister's war criminal temple visits are becoming China bashing by some posters.

Of all people, they cowardly, foolishly and ignorantly keep bringing up Mao to defame. But hey, Mao had gone to see Marx or been dead for some 40 years. If these bashers have real guts left to bash, they should bash China of today, not of 40 years ago.

NO, you miss the point. The point is that Mao is brought up by posters because Chinese seem to walk past his more recent and larger atrocities in an act of studious forgetting. But when it comes to Japan, everything it has ever done is hardwired into the frontal lobes of the average Chinese (and often South Korean - I assume there are no North Koreans on this forum because they will be purged for being here) poster here. There are camps in North Korea which basically amount to death camps. These things are happening now. Not 70 years ago. North Korea is a neo-Maoist State, doing what Mao did right NOW. Who is North Korea's biggest supporter, biggest buddy. CHINA. Now forget about Japan, and get onto the real threats to our common humanity TODAY.

Catholic Missionaries based in Tibet in the 1700s had written reports to the Pope that Tibet have always been a Chinese Province since Yuan Dynasty

In 1959---China abolished Slavery in Tibet and freed all the Tibetan slaves (95% of the population) The Dalai Lama himself had 6500 slaves pre-1959

In pre-1959---the Tibetan Constitution had made slavery legal under the Law

The Dalai Lama himself had declared publically many times that "Tibet is a part of China"

The 1978 Vietnam China border clash was just a border skermish --- if China had REALLY REALLY wanted to invade Vietnam she would have sent in 10 million troops instead of only a 100,000 troops ---- preceded by a rain of nuclear bombs

The late Ho Chi Ming had warned/told the Vietnamese people that if China ever want to attack Vietnam --- she would "COME BY the 100s of millions"

Tibet is a part of China historically for hundreds and hundreds of years just like US's acquired California, Hawaii, Texas and all other states. If you are not a hypocrite and allow natives to take back their own lands, there will probably be thousands and thousands of countries popping up suddenly. Japan alone will divide into probably hundred of nations. Same thing with Germany, USA and all other countries too.

"OK --- so MAO failed as a economist"
Plus minus 45 million dead.
On that one I agree with you.
But let me ask you another question. Do you know what a forced labor camp is? They have them in North Korea. Mao had them too. He had routine executions for political dissent too. But I guess you think this is all ok? NO? Oh sorry, I forgot, unless a Japanese does it.

... He had routine executions for political dissent too...
When? Where? How? To whom? Show me your sources please and I want to know too. Funny. Seems you are just interested in bashing communist China and CCP leaders, right? No problem. But why don't you do it on the article 'Merry-Mao-mas!' You won't be disappointed there.

"Tibet is a part of China historically for hundreds and hundreds of years "
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Not necessarily so. The Mongols incorporated Tibet into their Empire. Otherwise, the status of Tibet vis-a-vis the Ming seems one of independence. Maybe there was some pretense of suzerainty.
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It was really the Qing that incorporated Tibet into a larger, expanded China. Don't believe the Qing made it a province though, like say with Xinjiang and Taiwan in the 19th century. They did take parts of Tibet and attach it to other regions. They also saw their influence over the area drop in the 19th century.
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So nothing like California or Texas or most other states.

South Korea had condemned ABE Yasukuni Visit and had cancelled several upcoming Military deals with Japan

ALSO === S. Korea and China share the same responses and indignation and anger over ABE's provocation

Don't be too surprise if this Yasukuni incident would spur China-S Korea getting closer in relationship --- both economically, militarily and culturally

IN ANY CASE --- Japan had damaged its relationship with both China and S Korea

AND --- as far as US-China relationship is concerned --- the President of the US Chamber of Commerce had said in a TV interview yesterday that --- the US and China are going to sign a trade agreement soon --- on better and closer trade relationship === particularly in areas of better treatment on each others investments in the other's country

He also said that American- and Chinese business are looking forward to even sign a FTA

Seems that the US and China are too inter-dependent on each other -- in economic terms

Some American analysts are even suggesting that to the Americans --- China looks more attractive economically than Japan --- American businesses wants the "China Market"

To American business --- China is the new attractive young girl --- and Japan an old ugly hag -- economically speaking

And Shinzo Abe knows this -- and that's why he is behaving like a Woman scorned.....

Japanese prime minister's Yasu... visit and subsequent strong response from China has the side effect of making Japan even more dependent on the American power and will and therefore it concedes more Japanese sovereign control to Americans.

This side effect is unintended and undesired for Japan, but the political reality of that is happening. Japanese hope to become a normal independent country is fading now faster than Abe's visit to the Japanese shrine.

I can't see China and S. Korea getting too close militarily as long as there is formally an alliance between China and N. Korea.
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Also, I suspect the S. Koreans are worried about economic competition from China in some of the heavier industries.
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I am not sure American attitudes fit the female analogy there either. Maybe the business community view Japan as both Miko and Maiko? ;-)

"I can't see China and S. Korea getting too close militarily as long as there is formally an alliance between China and N. Korea."
Recent execution of Little Kim's pro-China uncle may change all that: There is now a commonality of interest between China and South Korea about getting rid of the Kim Dynasty.
Chinese guarantee of reunification in return for S.Korean renunciation of security treaty with the US is no longer a fantasy.

I don't see that happen. A major realignment like that just because some uncle got knocked off?
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I don't think so.
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Now if there was a Korean Anschluss, I could see the US-Korean security treaty going away, but out of nationalism. I can't see the S. Koreans suddenly singing kumbaya with the Chinese after all that China had done to help wreck the country in the 1950s and then support separatism with a nasty adversarial state like N. Korea up to the present time...

Not sure regurgitating Lord Palmerston has much relevance here. England found out it needed friends in like 50 years after the good PM.
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Otherwise, have you been out on business trips that include both Japanese and Korean executives? Seems they get along fine, if we are going to go by anecdotes.
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And south asia is a bit complicated - goes back awhile. Like Pakistan being a SEATO ally, but JFK still reached out to support India vis-a-vis China after China invaded them in 1962 (and the Cuban missile crisis past).

No, not Chinese. It should be 'According to the Chinese Communist Party'.... You mistook CCP for all Chinese. To numerous Chinese, Mao was a tyrant committing a lot mistakes and doing plenty of harms to China and its people. To some victims, he was a murderous thug.

Yeh, then why do they spend 90% of their energy hating the Japanese and 10% hating Mao. Mao did worse things than the Japanese and more recently than the Japanese. Its all about nationalism and pricked national pride (and the Middle Kingdom has always had a ridiculously elevated view of its place in the world) and not about crimes. If all the exact same crimes in quality and quantity committed by the Japanese on the Chinese in that period had been committed by a Chinese on the Chinese, we would be hearing nothing about this. The Chinese would have splendidly erased it from their collective Borg memory.

Seems you have lots of misunderstandings about the terms: China(country), Chinese(people of PRC or of Chinese ancestry), CCP (ruling party of PRC), political aims and feelings of offspring of the victims in WWII (not too remote), natures of some behaviors (crimes vs policies). It's very difficult, if not impossible to explain all these clearly here. Please read some books regarding these and your conclusions will be very different.

Your view and logic are somewhat twisted. First of all, everybody knows that the plaintiff decides who to sue first. If the plaintiff sues A first, A can't complain it's not fair because B caused more harm.

The fact that you keep diverting people's attention to Mao who's nothing to do with this topic shows that either you either have no remorse over the millions that died due to Japanese invasion or you are intellectually handicapped.

Furthermore, the way Mao caused sufferings to the Chinese people was quite different from your beloved Imperial Army. He didn't send armies to chop people's head off just for the fun of it, he didn't force millions of women into sexual slavery, nor did he set up a Unit 731 to do biological weapon test on living human beings. He caused millions of death no doubt, and I ain't defending him, but that was mostly through his half cooked policies

If by your logic, the Chinese should hate Mao 90% of their energy, then the Japanese people should hate Hideki Tojo and his gang 90% of their energy. They started a war that caused the death of millions of Japanese people, many of them I believe were innocent people, they stupidly drew the US into war only to receive two atomic bombs and suffered humiliating defeat. All of these courtesy of Hideki Tojo-san. Yet, Tojo-san and his gang are worshipped as 'heroes' in the Yasukuni shrine, with an adjacent museum glorifying their global empire wet dream. I guess it is just like what u said isn't it? It's all about nationalism and pricked national pride (and the Nipponese Empire has always had a ridiculously elevated view of its place in the world).

Yeah, Mao caused the deaths of millions of people in China. But he also brought stability and unity to China, developed universal education and healthcare, sexual equality, nuclear weapons, and helped China move beyond its reactionary traditions. In spite of the deaths under Mao, the average life expectancy increased by 50% and the population almost doubled.

The Japanese brought considerable death and destruction to China, but what positives did they bring?

I am not Japanese. My grandfather fought against Japan on the British side, and lots of what I inherited was negative about the Japanese. Why do you assume that everyone who can see the Japanese point of view is Japanese?

"But he also brought stability and unity to China"
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The Great Leap Backwards and Cultural Revolution didn't look so stable though.
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As for education, at the higher grades it seems like it got disrupted a bit with the cultural revolution.
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May have moved beyond reactionary traditions, but for a while seemed to import traditions of the purge, cult of personality and single party totalitarian state from his old benefactor, Stalin.
`
Interesting point about life expectancy. ARe there any reliable figures though? Like what was life expectancy in 1976? What was it in 1936, before WWII and the Civil War?

Yes, the Cultural Revolution did usher in several years of instability (the Great Leap Forward, not so much); but that doesn't change the fact that Mao and the CCP brought an end to warlordism and civil war in China and they successfully reasserted administrative control over Xinjiang, Tibet, and the Manchurian provinces (though the KMT might have been able to do the last on their own).

Yes, higher education was disrupted during the Cultural Revolution; but under the ROC only roughly 1% of the population even entered higher education. I'm not sure of the proportion of the Chinese were enrolled in higher education between 1949 and 1966 but I've seen no evidence of an enormous jump in enrollment so the enrollment rate was likely still under 10%. On the other hand, new schools were constructed throughout the country (particularly in the countryside, where they were needed the most) and women were given equal access to education. Literacy rates increased from 20% to 70% under Mao. So it would appear that the Cultural Revolution only disrupted education for a small fraction of China's population and the majority of the population received greater access to education.

For life expectancy, in 1976 it was somewhere in the range (depending on the source) of 63 to 66 years. In 1949 (the earliest year there are numbers for) it was at about 43 years (I've also seen numbers in the late 30's). I've never been able to find information regarding life expectancy under the KMT (which is symptomatic of their general inability to properly administrate the mainland), but my understanding is that increase in life expectancy under Mao (along with the enormous population growth) were substantially because of reduced child mortality which was accomplished by massive drives to inoculate children against diseases, increase access to antibiotics, etc. No similar policies existed under the KMT.

China was already a single-party state under the KMT and Chiang Kai-shek was also trying for a personality cult (people putting his portrait in their home, etc.). So for whatever reason, China's attraction to single-party states preceded the CCP and extended beyond the ideology of Communism. Likewise, personality cults in China preceded Mao and were found across Asia. So apparently personality cults and single-party states resonate with some prior existing elements of Chinese culture. And while political purges in China obviously precede the CCP, I'll grant that the purges that occurred under Mao were probably influenced by Stalin in someway (despite the methods of implementation being different).

Personality cults in China ended with Mao and the Great Leap Forward does not seem to have caused any lasting impact on China (they recovered from the economic and demographic damage in several years). But China has enormously benefited from a strong and unified state, reduced child mortality, a military with nuclear weapons, gender equality, and universal education. It will probably take at least another generation to determine all of the negative and positive effects of the Cultural Revolution.

I hope the world to know that many Japanese citizens are also dissapointed by, and oppose to the Abe's visit to Yasukuni shrine. I want to express my sincere apologies to our neighbors for his insensitive actions.

He could have chosen so many other ways to show his respect to victims of wars, if he wanted. Alternatively, they should move the war criminals from the shrine.

He might have gotten some support from conservative voters, but I personally think the visit has done more damange than good domestically as well. But many, including me, support his policies around economy, and lack of alternative competent politicians will likely to leave him in power for a while.

I think Japanese people need to be more outspoken, and more importantly, educate ourselves and our kids on the history and current international situations so that we can better influence our government.

Since unlike many posters here who love to exercise their telepathic ability to read the motives and true identities of other posters, I am just gonna assume you are a Japanese and you are being earnest. For that you have my thank.

Though I can't speak for everyone here, I believe most of us don't really want the Japanese people today to pay for their earlier generations crime in WW2 in anyway. But I for one have relatives and friends whose families suffered greatly during the Japanese occupation, some of the victims are still alive. So it really annoys me when some pro-Japanese, or should I say pro-Imperial Army posters show no regret whatsoever when trying to defend themselves. I don't even see a single sentence that says anything remotely like "Though it is regrettable that many people died during the invasion, but Japan has since blah blah blah", instead what we see here is "what about Mao?", "Japan is being faulted because we got defeated, if only we've won", "Japan has given a lot of money, you are ungrateful". First of all, I am from SEA so Mao ain't got anything to do with me, secondly, if you burnt down other people's house and people died, you can't expect people to be grateful simply because you rebuilt a bigger kitchen for them and offered to be friend again. I am not trying to lecture you so I guess I'll stop here.

Just like you, I think Abe's made some good economic policies, and yes, I agree Japanese people need to be more outspoken, but I would say the same applies to most Asian societies. Cheers and have a happy new year.

It is nice to see what you wrote and your points are so reasonable. To support your comment, when I took history class during my junior high school, text books focuses a lot on how Japanese ordinary citizens suffered by bombing by US air force, and horror of nuclear bombs. The message was strong and clear that we should never involve in a war. However, I remember the topics around Japanese invasions in our neighbouring countries were light. I was lucky to have a good history teacher who pointed that out and taught us more than what it was covered in the text book, but I doubt that was the case for everyone. There should be more sections in our text book exploring how much the invasions caused damage and how people are still suffering from the memory.

There has been news about grass root activists in Japan trying to change our history text books, but never appears to make it through for some reasons I do not know.

I spent a few years abroad to get my graduate degree. Living abroad taught me how critical it is to be objective especially when it comes to my own country because our opinions are so easily skewed by our love to the country. I hope more Japanese will learn how our country is perceived abroad and how to take responsible actions.

"I was lucky to have a good history teacher who pointed that out and taught us more than what it was covered in the text book, but I doubt that was the case for everyone."

Your teacher is respectable.

"There has been news about grass root activists in Japan trying to change our history text books, but never appears to make it through for some reasons I do not know."

I think I sorta know why, probably the extreme rightists are behind this.

"because our opinions are so easily skewed by our love to the country"

That is very true, but it probably applies to many people, just ask the average American. Personally though I think it is more profound for countries under the Confucius cultural circle.

"I hope more Japanese will learn how our country is perceived abroad and how to take responsible actions."

I know some people tend to talk as if a country, its people and government are one entity, I always try not to mix them together. As far as I'm concerned, save for the right-wing nutcases and their revisionist rhetoric, I have nothing against Japan or its people in general. In fact, I have just been to Japan with my wife, and we totally love it. ;)

Our Chinese posters spend alot of time bashing the Japanese right, Shinzo Abe etc. The real reason is the Japanese voters have elected Abe with a clear mandate to restore Japanese economy and international position. Abe is not a sneaky bastard, he told the voters more or less what he was going to do, and he is doing it.

A minority of the Japanese expect Abe to visit the shrine, and the majority couldn't care less. In his first term as PM he didn't visit. He is a politician, if he feels there is no political necessity or the political benefits outweigh the international impact, he will do it. Abe is a dick, but he is not an idiot. He is praying for another outbreak of riots in China against Nipponese business interest, that will push Japanese public rightward. I am pretty sure some of our Chinese poster here have the intention of fulfilling his wish.

Let's be frank, Abe is going to continue doing it, just as Koizumi visited four times. Koizumi lasted a full term. China and South Korea didn't elect Abe / Koizumi, so what exactly are they going to do about it. Nothing.

1. they overtly hates china that had begotten japns people in the first place 1,400 thousand and more years ago;

2. they covertly hates USA (for nuking them and made them surrender for the first time in japan and made japan submits till today) that has fed and nursed japan back to health for the last 70 some years.

and japns fascism has a pecular way of fooling outsiders by using ephurisms:

--- they invented sucicide bomber terrorists and calling them “kamikaze”,

--- they tranced some people into cutting his own belly stomach and calling it Seppuku (not unlike some indian sects tortureing their own bodies beyond pain threshold)

--- they steal and plunder other nations’ treasures and resources and calling it ‘co-prosperity’

--- they had stolen, among other things, Chinese horticulture of miniature tree planting-in-a-pan or 'pen-zai ' and calling it ‘bonsai’, what a steal.

--- they rape and murder foreign civilians and calling that ‘comfort women’

--- they lost the war and surrendered like a no good slave or beggar then and come back calling it ‘ending war’.

--- they infested ghost temple with class A criminals and calling it ‘yasukuni’

Actually I'm suspicious if voters really have their own political views or not. Only few years ago, most of the voters enthusiastically supported DPJ who are supposed to be lefty, then they support LDP again because of the huge mess of economic policies and fukushima issues by DPJ.

I guess for ordinary people, Abe is just seen as a representative of anti-DPJ.

This is somehow dodgy because whatever he does will be seen as correct by majorities, as long as he is doing the opposite of DPJ.

I actually agree with most of what you said. Abe is trying to stir up uproar so that he can use the China threat to rally up support to change the constitution. This is due to the big drop of support after he pushed through the 'Secrecy Law'.

But China and S. Koran know this. That's why there are no huge street protests.

What they can do? They are already doing it, is to isolate Japan. Japan needs the trade with its neighbours. It will take sometime, but his Abenomics will not work without the neighbours.
Japan's short jump of GDP has already dropped down to 1.1% in the last quarter. It will get worse after the April sales tax increase and Abe needs the grow to pay for his military spending and old age benefits. The depreciation of the yen will give him less purchasing power for new weapons.

our indian posters (e.g., bismark777 says himself being an indian) spend alot of time bashing and praising Chinese, Japanese right and americans at the same time, trying to please them all. but that pleased nobody.

indian riot in Singapore and the us rough handling of an indian diplomat are just such examples.

Bis isn't Indian only because he happens to have Indian background. By that logic the US president is Kenyan!
Look, it's the 21st century and people of all colours live all over the place. Even Chinese.
Was LKY more loyal to China than to Singapore?
Bis for all intents and purposes is SE Asian and argues from that angle, get over it.

Agreed, but unfortunately the PLA-funded "contributors" to these forums have a particular problem with ethnic Indians - wherever they live. They don't seem to have the same problem with gweilo which makes me think it has to do with skin color - the whiter the better. Good job we're not discussing Africans or the wumao would be spouting all kinds of horrible things...

Like most Chinese posters you tend to spend time looking at isolated events and personalities. China is failing into the same trap the US is often accused of, personalizing international affairs. If we can just change the leader, everything will be solved, right? This is a very flawed view of Japan, considering that Japanese do thing by consensus.

If you look at the trend, China and Japanese relations has gotten steadily worse since 2001, when Koizumi came into power. And even during DPJ government it got worse. In my opinion, China actions during Naoto Kan and Noda government, weren't helpful. The fishing boat, the nationalization of the islands and riots all occurred during this time. In 2009, foreign policy was not a major issue, and the DJP could have "dovish" policies, now it can't.

Its similar to what happened with America after Kennedy. From 1945-1960, both Democrats and Republicans were on the same page with regards to foreign policy. Now no Japanese politician wants to appear dovish.

Japanese public opinion is very negative toward China, and it has been steadily declining in the last decade. So its going to be difficult for any Japanese politician to undo the damage.

The rise of people like Koizumi and Abe in the LDP, has to do with transformation of Japanese politics with the emergence of the DPJ in 1998. The more liberal factions of the LDP switched sides and went over to the DJP, as a result revisionist/nationalist faction in the LDP became more important. Prior to 1998, they weren't that important.

How dependent is Japan on exports/imports? How much of Japanese exports going to China/South Korea are actual end products consumed in Korea and China? Abenomics is internally focused, its to print money, so inflation is created to get Japan out of its deflationary spiral. The impact is a declining Yen, but for Japan, boast in exports cause by the drop in the Yen is a side effect.

As for 1.1% GDP growth, you have to look at nominal growth. Before Japan was growing at 1.1%, but all alot of that growth was due to negative inflation. Your nominal growth is 0.5%, add a negative inflation rate of 0.5$, you have 1% growth. Now its 2.0% nominal growth with 1% inflation. If you are trying to get out of an deflationary spiral, the second option is better.

Is this expansionary monetary policy going to work? Its too early too tell.

The Economist article was poorly analyzed, and most of the comments here aren't any better.

The over-reaction of hypocritical politicians and pundits makes me sad. I see no evidence that the Japanese government is focusing on the "offensive" dead any more than the "acceptable" dead.

The Chinese still worship the murderous Chairman Mao and his sickening gang who murdered some 30+ million Chinese by their own admission, far more than the Japanese did. Where is the outrage? The Chinese are the perfect example of what I don't wish to become.

As for the American government, I am sure that if you search America's military graveyards you will find people who's military records link them to atrocities going back to at least the Civil War. (Remember Custer?) I know of examples from WWII, Korea, and Vietnam.

As for the English and their 700 years of repeated invasion and brutalizing of Ireland: well, the Irish appear to have forgiven them for the most part. But I bet there is no outrage when the queen or prime minister visits an English military grave yard containing the participants. Why not? Or is it not topical enough?

We should be sensitive to the past but we should not beat-up subsequent generations for the sins of prior generations or we risk sinking into a vindictive and vengeful mindset. Kind of like the tribal cultures of the Middle East, North Africa, and parts of East Asia. No thanks!

"The Chinese still worship the murderous Chairman Mao and his sickening gang who murdered some 30+ million Chinese by their own admission, far more than the Japanese did."
Please enlighten us how /where/ when Mao and "his sickening gang" murdered some 30+ million Chinese, and by whose own admission?? I heard 70+ million just the other day.
Oh please do help us ignorant ones out. I am sure you are very 'knowledgeable' and not parroting here, and have lots of credible academic evidence.

I don't know if you are a Japanese or not. Let's put forward our opinions based on some simple assumptions that we are all educated modern persons with reasonable sense of right and wrong, and we evaluate subjects using contemporary standards.

...I see no evidence that the Japanese government is focusing on the "offensive" dead any more than the "acceptable" dead...

We are talking about Abe and some rightist politicians who intentionally did something considered offensive to other countries. You and some posters here do the same thing, trying to deflect the issue by pointing to others.

Yes, they have done terrible deeds but Judaism, Christianity and Islam look upon these people as evil. You can fix the problem or fix the blame. Let the Divine deal with the blame. We have our hands full trying to fix it.

I'm a little bit surprised that no one mentioned "the group of bereaved family" (= Izokukai). Without understanding a political structure between this group and LDP, it's hardly understandable why LDP is so obsessed by Yasukuni.

There are approx. 1 million families in this group (i.e. few million potential voters) and indeed it's one of the biggest political groups in Japan (especially strong influence to LDP historically).

For example, the reason why Koizumi could become a prime minister was simply a result of his obsessive visits to Yasukuni, whereas Hashimoto (the ex-rival) avoided to visit Yasukuni. They support those who show respects to their dead family members buried in Yasukuni. So politicians who demonstrated in public to visit Yasukuni can get few million voters.

Easy~
Why don’t move out the war-criminal from Yasukuni ?
They can still get the support from the rest others dead family members and their votes
It can also ease the tension with others Asia country, improve the relationship.
Good strategy, right !?

How come Japan’s Politian never came up with this!?
Because the war-criminal makes difference, you worship them (and they’re willing to), you got more support

Several times Japanese politicians attempted to plan this (last time I believe was 2005). But Izokukai and Yasukuni itself have been strongly against the idea. Their argument is basically 1. "it's against Shinto's religious rules", 2."Shinto religiously cannot abandon spirits. It can just make a copy of spirits, so cannot be the essential solution". (But I think this is possible because Shinto itself doesn't have clear dogmas and it's up to Shrines what they believe. And indeed there are cases in the past that some Shrines abandoned their spirits.)

But because Yasukuni is a private shrine sponsored by Izokukai (this is an interesting fact, but it's true) after ww2, there are not so many legal solutions about this topic.

I think you are right.
The question you asked was already answered by my previous reply.

One interesting thing is ex PM Nakasone, who visited Yasukuni several times (during 80s), have started to say he believes they should move war criminals out from Yasukuni (like before 1978) since 2005. This fact implies it was a political demonstration to them rather than his own belief.

Until then, the victims of Japanese atrocities have every right to protest. Especially there are clowns from the Japanese government who come out continuously to deny the sex slaves and Nanking Massacre, and their invasion of the Asian countries was a self-defence.

How they want to play their internal politics among themselves is not a concern to the victims.

But from a victim's position, he wants to see sincere action of 'giving up their visits' due to remorse as the Germans did, not an action under political pressure. Therefore the victims don't really give a crap how they play their internal politics.

japan gov is nothing but a lap dog and proxy tool of Japan's occupying foreign power the us, for 70 years now. japan acts on behalf of its master, and by itself can do no harm.

japan is not an independent nation but a vassal state and has been so since it was nuked to end ww2. this means as the master the us can do just about anything to japan, and what's a token slap on the face?

the us is controlling japan for a good cause though. it keeps japan on leash to avoid it bites on its master or his friends.

Recent polls in japan tell 70 to 80 percent of Japanese support Mr. Abe's visit to Yasukuni. In spite of major journalism inside and abroad almost unanimously oppose the visit why overwhelming Japanese support Mr. Abe? If you overlook what is really going on in Japan you may miss the core point of the issue.
In past half century Japan has endeavored much to improve the relations with China and Korea in various ways. Japan has given a lot of economic aids including ODA to China and many technology transfers to both countries. In short Japan has contributed a great deal to proceed economic progress of two countries with low profile and very helpful ways.
But China and Korea not only thank the help they have gotten from Japan but they have systematically fanned hostility feelings against Japan to their nations through education and government controlled media. Accumulations of these antagonisms in both countries have exaggerated in these days to the point of military aggressions to the area of Japanese territory.
Notwithstanding, in past decades Japan has refrained from asserting its own justice and confronting openly to two countries in order to avoid the unnecessary conflicts so far. But Japanese people have learned much that the kindness or political refrain did not work for Communists and Koreans. That why Mr. Abe has gained overwhelming popularity in Japan.
What is going on in Japan after Mr. Abe took a position of political leader is just putting direction of policy on the right truck which any independent country must take. What is going on is simple; just say what it is right and what is wrong to others; what is fact and what is bogus in history.
In this context, Mr. Abe is a nationalist as any political leader of any nation must be. But he is not an extreme right wing politician or an ultra nationalist, he is just doing what he must do as a prime minister of Japan.

Your assessment is about right in my opinion. Japan has sought in post-War years to assist China and South Korea in their development, and now Japanese opinion is starting to harden. The Japanese are getting a bit tired of anti-Japanese sentiment, and you can only put your hand out so many times to have it rejected before you lose your self-respect. Japan has to build a foreign policy around the US, Europe, South East Asia, Australia and South Asia. It also needs to redirect investment away from China. There are other opportunities. Indonesia is a big one.

Mr Abe effort to "improve the relations with China and Korea" is to pray to war-criminal at the Yasukuni War Shrine. If you call that improve than you are just saying nonsense. Japanese ODA is only a pittance compared to the 100 Billion USD (in 1945 dollars) that Japan looted from Asia. Japan didn't even pay 1 cent in war reparation. Mr Abe is Japan's little Hitler and you Japanese better get rid of him and better change before it is too late for you.

Japan is financially bankrupt with national debt at 2.4 times GDP, Japanese yen depreciating a lot. Japan is also morally bankrupt. Can Japan really do anything positive for SEA? What Japan should do is to pay war reparations to SEA especially the Philippines.

If you think this amount is not enough, that's your opinion and that's absolutely fine since everyone has a right to have his/her own opinion. But factual errors is simply not appropriate. So check before you write. It's easy since we have google. ;)

They won't. Although Japan has a huge national debt, their external debt is relatively small (60% of GDP). In addition, they are the 2nd largest external asset holders (approx. 380% of GDP). Nations can go bankrupt 1. when they have huge external debts but smaller external asset (e.g. Greece), and 2. they have weakness of money supply or no currency controls (e.g. Greece too). So they are not a top runner of bankruptcy races.

>What Japan should do is to pay war reparations to SEA especially the Philippines.

As you can see my previous reply, they actually already paid war reparations to Philippine. Though the discussion remains whether this amount is appropriate or not.

You better spend you time thinking about how you are going to deal with another Kim north of your border. You might need Japanese and US help to deal with the problem if that cartoon dictator gets out of the wrong side of the bed. The most remarkable thing about Koreans is their inability to properly judge what is a threat to them - and their hatred of Japanese.

Oh, with that veiled threat you passed Mr. Kim, I just realized. Maybe you are from the north of the border. Or maybe it doesn't matter. South Koreans protest more when a US military vehicle kills someone in a road accident (driven by someone who will have to spill blood to save you one day) in South Korea than they do when the North Koreans sink one of their ships. I don't even know why the US and Japan don't just leave S Korea to the wolf. Fix it yourself this time.

No they are not loans. They are just war reparations.
Check the English wiki article of "Treaty of San Francisco".

If you can read Japanese (or possibly google translation can help), University of Tokyo has full texts of treaties to those Asian nations. For example, it's clearly stated "$20m war compensations every year in next 10 years" in the treaty between Myanmar and Japan. (+ $5m economic support every year in next 10 years but not as war compensations)

You can reach those original texts via external links of Japanese wiki article.

Sorry it was not Japanese wiki of Treaty of San Francisco, but "Japan's war reparation after ww2" article.
(I cannot paste the link, so if you cannot find the page, you can directly visit Akihiko Tanaka's lab (U of Tokyo) where you can find those texts. click the 18th link from bottom on the left subwindow, then click the 3rd link from top for the treaty between Myanmar and Japan for example)

With your figures you just proved the point about japan not paying even 1 cent of reparation. Considering Japan looted an estimated 100 Billion USD from Asia during her war of conquests, what was "paid" is only a very small amount of what was looted. It cannot be even as aid as it is a miniscule amount of what was looted. Japanese account of history, aid whatever is just too diabolical.

Even Germany paid war reparation to Israel of more than 50 Billion USD.

With your figures you just proved the point about japan not paying even 1 cent of reparation. Considering Japan looted an estimated 100 Billion USD from Asia during her war of conquests, what was "paid" is only a very small amount of what was looted. It cannot be even as aid as it is a miniscule amount of what was looted. Japanese account of history, aid whatever is just too diabolical.

Even Germany paid war reparation to Israel of more than 50 Billion USD.

South Korea is more than able to protect herself including the Dokdo Islands. Our military is stronger than Japan's that's why Japanese can do nothing about the Dokdo Islands or the South Kuril Islands under Russian Control. South Korea now have good relationships with China and Russia unlike Japan. We also have the US. The US came to save South Korea in the 1950s but went to Japan in 1945 to occupy Japan. The relationship is very different. We have equal relationships with China, Russia and the US. Japan does not.

No on the contrary. Japan does nothing about the Dokdo Islands because it recognizes that S. Korea has administrative control and it wants to deal with it legally, not by military threat. The opposite of China. Just give credit where it is due and keep tight to the facts and your mind independent.

And if your military is stronger than Japans (which I think it is not really, Japan would spank your arse if it came to it) then why is Japan such a big fat monolithic threat to everyone and you. You can't have it both ways, unless you are a rabid South Korean anti-Japanese fanatic making it up as you go along.

China and Russia both have dubious political systems - one openly autocratic and the other effectively autocratic. You are who you mix with, and you seem to prize this relationship. I would want to have a relationship with Russia and KGB Colonel Putin like I would want a dose of the pox. Give me Japan and Abe any day of the week.

I am not American, but I found extreme anti-Americanism in South Korea and nothing like it Japan. I have seen other people cite this phenomenon including George F Will on the Washington Post some time back. It is very strange, but here is one view I have heard which makes a lot of sense. Koreans have a dysfunctional relationship with America because they were liberated by America from the Japanese. So consciously they know they have an immense debt of gratitude to America, but unconsciously they resent America for robbing them of the chance to liberate themselves and exorcise the humiliation. Japan and America are different. They were in a knife fight to the death once. One won and acted benevolently afterwards, to the surprise of the vanquished. This lead to a great friendship, and you have very little of the anti-American filth in Japan, that I have routinely seen in Korea.

You in South Korea have equal relationships with China, Russia and the US. HUH? Let's just take the US. They have 10s of thousands of soldiers protecting you from an invasion, and the most powerful military in the history of the world. What do you have? A large, largely, conscript force. When Japan has US troops on its soil it is servitude, but the same for S Korea is an equal relationship. COME ON. GET A GRIP. Your hatred of Japan limits the exercise of a clear and analytic mind, because your intellect is in service to your hatreds and inherited prejudices rather than an accurate scoping of reality.

There is outrage from the Philippines, here's a paragraph from Japan Times:
A group of Filipino women forced into sexual slavery during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines in the 1940s has blasted Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for visiting war-related Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo.
Somehow, I can't publish the link here.
In fact there probably are localized, sporadic protests/ condemnation here and there in South East Asia, just that most SEA governments prefer to turn a blind eye. So far, I only know the Singaporean government has voiced its disapproval.

South East Asia is far more worried about China than Japan. China wants everything. Every island, every shelf, right up to their beaches. The Philippines is again trying to get tight with uncle Sam, now they realize that it was stupid to ask them to leave their naval base there.

Nobody doubts that Japanese military rule is resented - far more so even than the relatively benign British civil administration of the colonies taken over by the Japanese at that time (Malaya, Singapore, Hong Kong etc.). But that was then and this now, and only people looking for the Darwin award fight yesterdays threat.

Very often, Japanese describe themselves 'Yamato' which claimed by many people means 'harmony, peace, balance'. However, if the comments/opinions defending Abe and Japan were written by Japanese, I'm quite confused with the culture and mindsets of Japanese. We can hardly use the word peaceful to describe them. Some are very belligerent indeed. Personally, I don't believe that their views represent the mainstream opinions of Japanese.

Is seems the greatest enemy of the Japanese people are not the outsiders, the Chinese or the Koreans or the Americans or the Russians but the enemy within like the rightists Mr Abe and his supporters, the LDP, the Yakuza who a destroying Japanese decency and values.